Mars Delights Tonight

[John]

Just a quick report.

After 3 days of more or less constant rain and cloud here I have a reasonably clear patch of sky over me and I've stuck my Tak FC100 out to catch Mars boasting a 22.5 arc second disk.

Steady seeing is enabling 225x - 300x to be used to real effect and the surface details are outstanding I feel.

The south polar cap has dwindled to a tiny spot of white now. The southern half of the disk is a mass of dark features with a clear pale rift slicing diagonally though them around the central meridian. I think this is the Hesperia region ?.

Further paler areas bisect the darker areas to the south with a darker region around the southern pole.

Many other named features on show as well I'm sure. 

Quite possibly the best views of Mars I've ever had just now

 

 

[RobertI]

Sounds wonderful, thanks for sharing. Well done on getting some clear skies and good seeing - I’m getting desperate! 😉

[John]

Didn't last long did it ? - big patch of cloud has now covered 80% of the sky !

Good to have a scope that can be popped out and used more or less straight from the house. Got to grab those precious clear patches !

 

[Pixies]

Desperate for some clear skies just now.

Is that a camera you are using?

[markse68]

Lucky you John! When i first saw your post i looked out to see moon and mars in clear sky but by the time i’d thought about it it was clouded over again 😞 Tuesday night is looking promising 🤞

[John]

12 minutes ago, Pixies said:

Desperate for some clear skies just now.

Is that a camera you are using?

No - it's a saved image from the Mars Mapper site tweaked and re-orientated to match the view through the refractor.

Had another clear patch so I've soaked up more martian magic for the past 30 minutes or so. More cloud again now but I'm not complaining. These views were really excellent.

 

 

[Pixies]

1 minute ago, John said:

No - it's a saved image from the Mars Mapper site tweaked and re-orientated to match the view through the refractor.

Had another clear patch so I've soaked up more martian magic for the past 30 minutes or so. More cloud again now but I'm not complaining. These views were really excellent.

 

 

Thursday is looking good, just now. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

I've actually just bought a smartphone mount, to see if I can get any kind of image. But I intend to carry on sketching for the rest of this apparition.

This is the first year I've been using a telescope and in some ways I feel a bit spoilt! First Neowise (although that didn't really need a scope) and now Mars.

[John]

47 minutes ago, Pixies said:

This is the first year I've been using a telescope and in some ways I feel a bit spoilt! First Neowise (although that didn't really need a scope) and now Mars.

Yes - it's all downhill from now on !

Only joking !!!! - this hobby has kept me occupied for 35 plus years so far and I've not even scratched the surface of imaging if I want to try that at some point.

 

[scarp15]

Very nice, an exciting week for observing Mars, when the weather clears, looks promising here from mid week.